Of Interest

I was wondering, is there anyone around who’s been on the JA selection committee and can share something about how it was?

…

Hm… personal experience. Rather than what they publicize…

Good question. I wish that the JASC, and other Williams organizations, would do a better job of collecting and maintaining this sort of material. I did a bit of this, back when alumni could still contribute to Willipedia. And we have some discussion in our archives, although the primary focus is on policies associated with JASC and not the experiences of students on it.

My understanding is that most students find participating on JASC to be incredibly time consuming and intense. It can also be very educational (about the politics of small groups and coalition formation) as well as extremely frustrating. My sense is that most students who serve are glad that they did so. I recommend that Miteva apply.

Indeed, serving on JASC is one of the most unique experiences available at Williams. Very few other colleges entrust their students with so much responsibility. If you find the idea intriguing, you should apply as well.

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4 Responses to “JASC Experiences”

JG says:

It is intense, an absurdly huge amount of time, entertaining, difficult, sometimes uncomfortable, and incredibly rewarding all together at once.

You learn a lot about your fellow students, and your own stamina. In the process, you also get a chance to meet some incredibly cool fellow students. I became friends with some of the people I interviewed…even a few that weren’t picked! You form bizarre and wonderful bonds with your fellow committee members over very late nights with intense and emotional discussions

As for David’s comments “about the politics of small groups and coalition formation,” well, I’ll just point out that he wasn’t ever on the committee. The discussions are open and the votes are by anonymous ballot. I personally didn’t see any vote trading or things of that nature. At times it is intense, and obviously not everyone agrees, but it was one of the more democratic processes with which I have ever been involved. There were certainly individual nights I went home feeling unheard and a bit strung out, but at the end of the months of interviews and discussion, I felt that my opinions had been heard, for better or worse.

I encourage any student to give it a try if you’re interested, most years they are in need of more folks.

Ken – it did end in a vote rather than full consensus, and at some point we did have to cut off discussion. But the good faith and active participation of those involved made for for a pretty good process.

As for the time, well we had 3-4 hour meetings several times a week starting around 9pm from the end of WSP until Spring Break. And during WSP we interview every single applicant. It is a lot, particularly if you still want to pass your classes.

I found it quite rewarding and I was very glad to have participated. I fell the JA system is one of the things that makes Williams unique, so I was glad to have been able to participate in the process. I was on JASC during my senior spring, and I already had a job, so I was pretty set and did not worry too much about getting a slightly lower grade on a paper because of JASC.

We met from 10pm – 2am, 4-5 nights a week. One of the rules for the committee is that every member of the committee must be present for the meetings to take place – hence the meetings taking place at such a late hour.

It is unfortunate that the hours required make it especially difficult for sophomores to be on the committee, because they often are able to provide insights that the older students would be unaware of.

I personally did not find it at all frustrating; that may be because we had a particularly good group my year, but we all got along quite well.